Growing up with CF was hard, but my parents helped me learn how to cope by both encouraging me to fight and allowing me space to complain.
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I learned that service dogs for diabetics can be trained to detect the scent of high or low blood sugar. Could this type of training be effective for teaching my service dog to detect when I have a bacterial infection?
I struggled with my health for years until I was diagnosed with CF at the age of 19. After starting treatments, my physical health improved greatly, yet the scars on my mental health remain.
As a black man with cystic fibrosis, I am in a minority group within a minority group. I waited my whole life to find someone I could easily relate to until I happened upon a Facebook group for post-transplant patients.
For so long, my identify was defined by beating the odds and achieving a successful career despite having CF. But recently, health complications have forced me to create a new identity focused on self-care. With the help of my support system, I am slowly adapting to this new chapter.
The physical and emotional toll of CF can sometimes make me feel isolated from my peers. But I’ve learned being vulnerable about my struggles can create stronger relationships that make me feel supported and loved.
Being diagnosed with chronic lung rejection was devastating. However, maintaining hope and a positive mindset helped me look forward to the future and smile again.
Living with an illness like advanced lung disease can be incredibly isolating and limiting. But I’ve found a way to connect with others and make my own adventures through online gaming.
Having an atypical presentation of CF means I stand somewhere between the CF world and the rest of the world — and that makes me feel like I belong in neither.